Annabelle Comes Home

Annabelle Comes Home

Starring Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Vera Farmiga

Directed by Gary Dauberman

The Story:
After taking in the cursed doll Annabelle, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren trap the evil in the doll in a blessed cabinet, keeping it in their basement of cursed collections under lock and key from their young daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace).  One year later, the Warrens go out of town and Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) agrees to babysit Judy for the night, along with her best friend Daniela (Katie Sarife), who wishes to enter the forbidden room so she can talk to her recently deceased father.

When she gets into the room, Daniela unwittingly lets Annabelle out of her cage, and the spirit that uses the doll as a conduit awakens the other spirits in the room, unleashing a nightmarish night for the three girls - along with Mary Ellen's crush Bob (Michael Cimino) - as they search for Annabelle to return her to her cage before the spirits overtake them all.

The Synopsis:
There are some films that purposefully craft their movies to correlate to an entire cinematic universe, with Marvel being the most obvious and current.  Other franchises seem to try to piece together the most obscure moments from other films and incorporate them into entire spinoffs to craft their own cinematic universe like random pieces of parchments sewn together to make a haphazard blanket.

That's what's been happening to this new "Conjuring" universe, a cinematic world that capitalized on the fact that its flagship film (and subsequent sequel) were some of the best horror films made in recent memory and decided to dip their hands in the well over and over again in hopes of maintaining their superior status quo.

"The Conjuring" has now split into three distinct spinoffs - "The Nun," "The Curse of La Llorona," and "Annabelle" - and the results have been mixed at best.  "The Nun" was a huge financial success, but failed to really deliver a story long enough for the runtime, while "La Llorona" really had no purpose to be included in the universe at all.  "Annabelle" has had the most success, as it's spawned three films of its own so far - the first being a subpar ghost story you've seen multiple times before, the second ("Creation") serving as the third best "Conjuring" film by far, and this one, which falls somewhere in the middle.  While it's not bad, it's not necessarily great, and hopefully serves as the conclusion to the Annabelle story - but much like how the doll keeps escaping its enclosure, I wouldn't be surprised to see her get another story out of it, milking this anorexic cow to death.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed and Lorraine Warren, and are two of the bright points of the film, despite them not being in it that long.  These two have great chemistry together and really love playing their roles, and it serves as great bookends to the scary story that unfolds between.  They learn that the cursed Annabelle doll isn't possessed, but rather serves as a conduit for other spirits as it's got its own demon around it that wants to inhabit a human soul - or something like that.  So they keep Annabelle in a blessed cabinet under lock and key, because if the doll is left open, it'll awaken the other spirits in the Warren's basement.  They leave their young daughter Judy in the capable care of sensible babysitter Mary Ellen, but things go array when her best friend Daniela arrives and investigates the room herself in hopes of connecting with her deceased father, and unwittingly leaves the door to Annabelle's cage open.

What results is a nightmarish ordeal for the girls, as - much like the maligned "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" - they're tormented by different spirits that the Warrens investigated in their past, much like a greatest hits package of the undead.  Mary Ellen is plagued by the Ferryman, who ushers souls to the underworld if they pay the toll.  Mary Ellen's crush Bob is hunted by a werewolf outside.  Daniela is haunted by pretty much every other spirit in the house, especially a cursed bride's dress that drives whoever wears it insane.  Yet Annabelle sets her sights on Judy, and torments the young girl with merciless abandon.

Where the franchise has gone stale is in its scares, which were wildly original and imaginative in its formidable years (I'll never forget the hand clap game in the first "Conjuring"), but now becomes commonplace and expected, as I sat there I waited for the next jump scare to come next, and pretty much predicted each one - there's even the traditional "girl falls and stares into the camera with fear as she's dragged away by unseen hands" scene.  For me, jump scares rarely work because they come so often and the only reason you really jump is because the music swells to make you jump due to instinctive reflexes, not because they're scary.  Yet "Annabelle Comes Home" does do a decent job at providing scares that you don't expect, because they're not accompanied by the harsh string of a violin.  These moments are truly haunting, when you see an unexpected spirit in the background without any noise, but even those moments are to be expected in the "Conjuring" universe by now - unfortunately there's no real surprises anymore.

In saying all this, you might think I didn't enjoy myself, but I still found myself totally engrossed in the story unfolding, and that's due to the still-great cinematography, the intelligent story, the vivid designs, and the performance of the three young actresses that give credence to the story they told.  First-time director (and longtime "Conjuring" universe collaborator) Gary Dauberman manages to create a sense of dread throughout due to turning the perfectly normal cul-de-sac house into a ghastly haunted house of nightmares, especially in the Warrens' forbidden basement of terrors, which include several artifacts from their old cases that are all tainted with the spirit of evil.  The spirits linger in the shadows and on the peripherals of your vision, until they spring out at obvious (and not-so-obvious) moments, and their designs are truly terrifying as you'd expect.  The house design is perfect for the period it's told in, with the now-cringe inducing colorful carpets and walls that seem like a bad psychedelic trip.

Then there's the actresses (and actor) who endure the night of torture.  Madison Iseman plays Mary Ellen as the babysitter of the year, a girl who doesn't allow boys in the home, and only lets her friend Daniela in due to her blackmailing her.  She's sincere in helping Judy and keeping her well-protected, and doesn't have a negative bone in her body.  Seeing her go toe-to-toe with the Ferryman is frightening and tense, as you don't really know who will win out in the end, but you eagerly root for Mary Ellen's success due to Iseman's flawless performance.

Michael Cimino plays Bob, the dimwit next door neighbor who also has a heart of gold that's fond of Mary Ellen, but also is incredibly shy around her, and serves as the comedic relief of the film.  Yet this doesn't keep him out of harm's way, as he's hunted by the Hellhound using only his dim wits and guitar as a weapon.  But as his nickname in the film goes, Bob does have some balls.

Then there's Katie Sarife, who's Daniela starts the hell in the first place.  She seemingly plays the more adventurous best friend role, but also has a deeper sense of sadness for disobeying every single warning sign (literally) - her father died a year ago, and she holds herself responsible.  So she disregards all warning signs to try and communicate with her dad, but instead lets loose Annabelle and all the other demons in the house.  She has a deeper performance than the others, as she juggles youthful innocence with a deep sense of regret, and Sarife plays both extremely well.  She suffers the most throughout the film, as she's attacked by several different entities - especially the spirit of the bride - and yet also shows strength despite her lack of knowledge.

Mckenna Grace - who's stock has been on the rise since her tremendous performances in films like "Gifted" and shows like "The Haunting of Hill House" - plays the Warrens' daughter Judy with a talent beyond her years, as Judy herself exhibits signs of seeing dead people like her mother.  She holds a very adult view of death, and doesn't seem too terrified of the stories her parents told - until it comes to Annabelle, who chooses her to attack during the night.  Grace shows true grace in her performance, and thus far hasn't really done anything wrong.

The terror is real, but you'd expect more from Annabelle since she's in the title, but she merely serves as the opening that allows other spirits to come loose and wreak havoc.  Still, the terror is real, and the film amps up the scares and thrills even if it becomes stale and predictable at times.  Hopefully this spinoff franchise will end here, but you never know.

The Summary:
While the franchise has stumbled in the past, "Annabelle Comes Home" returns to the "Conjuring" roots in telling a compelling haunted house story with incredibly capable actors, a stylized set design, and, most importantly, terrifying ghouls and spirits that never relent on their victims - or the audience as well.

The Score: A